


Your Hair is Amazing

by lesbiancordy



Category: Killing Eve (TV 2018), Prodigal Son (TV 2019)
Genre: Crossover, Eve/Villanelle is only hinted at but they're still obsessed with each other, F/F, also vaguely crack, mild description of gore, she's kind of her type, this was just an excuse to write Villanelle thirsting after Dani okay, vaguely a casefic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-23
Updated: 2020-04-23
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:20:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,909
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23796808
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lesbiancordy/pseuds/lesbiancordy
Summary: A certain Russian assassin gives the team a run for their money whilst shamelessly flirting with Dani.
Relationships: Dani Powell/Villanelle, Eve Polastri/Villanelle | Oksana Astankova
Comments: 7
Kudos: 31





	Your Hair is Amazing

**Author's Note:**

> Set some time after season one of Killing Eve, and some random time when things are kind of chill in season one of Prodigal Son.

Three bodies. One witness. No leads.

This case was quickly becoming one of the most frustrating Dani had worked in years--and that included all the other cases she'd worked with Bright.

Two of the bodies had been shot clean through the heart. The third was...unusual, to say the least. Edrisa concluded he had died from a stab wound to the stomach, but that wasn't his only injury. He had some defensive wounds on his hands, which was to be expected--less expected, however, was the cross carved into his forehead, accentuated by the blood stained sash draped around his shoulders. Upon closer inspection, Edrisa had discovered that the sash was literally pinned onto his body--thumb tacks were intermittently placed along it, piercing into the man's skin. From the bleeding, she had been able to tell that the man had been alive when the first thumb tack was placed, but had died before the last one was.

So, a combination of both pre and post mortem injuries, a bizarre, theatrical presentation of the corpse, and a witness who didn't witness anything all that useful. This was shaping up to be a weird one.

* * *

She approached the witness; a small, pretty woman with red hair perched nervously on a bench outside of the crime scene, already mid conversation with Bright who was sat next to her. Some of her mannerisms almost reminded Dani of Edrisa, the way she'd tuck her hair behind her ear and look away bashfully every time Malcolm shot her a small smile, clearly infatuated with the man. Dani swore she even heard a giggle.

As Dani drew closer, Bright looked up, nodding at her as she returned the gesture. The woman followed his eye-line to Dani, and her already large eyes widened as she took her in, a curious smile playing on her lips as her eyes flickered between Dani and Bright.

"Hi, I'm detective Powell, I see you've already met Bright."

The woman's eyes were laser focused on Dani for a moment, before a small but friendly smile broke out on her face.

"Oh yes, he's been really nice! Are you guys partners?" She spoke with a soft English accent, to Dani's surprise.

"Uh, sort of." Dani stuttered, somewhat taken aback. "Listen, we're gonna need you to come to the station to make a statement about what you saw today."

"Of course! Right now? Or can I pop home to shower first? I've already told Mr Bright everything, and I was working a full shift before all of, well, this happened..." Her brow furrowed in discomfort, and she looked even younger in that moment--Dani was sure she couldn't be any older than 25. "I'm kind of smelly." She mock-whispered the last part, causing Dani to crack a small smile.

"I'm sure that's fine, as long as you come down straight after, Miss..?"

"Jones. Fiona Jones."

"Miss Jones. Where are you from, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Of course not! I'm from Bristol, but I'm over here on a work visa for our branch of Magnolia Cosmetics--this wasn't exactly the job I signed up for though.." She sounded fearful at that last part, voice wavering slightly, and Dani attempted to smile reassuringly.

"I understand, you've been through a lot today. But you're in good hands, I promise." Dani gestured to Bright who she noticed quickly school his own features into something more neutral than they had been before--his piercing, contemplative look tended to spook both perps and witnesses alike. Fiona smiled at them both.

"I don't doubt that. Thank you, Mr Bright, Detective Powell. I'll see you at the station in an hour?" She seemed comforted by the idea of seeing some familiar faces once she got there, and Dani nodded at her. Fiona smiled gratefully as she stood to leave.

She paused as she passed Dani, turning to her with an unusually intense gaze.

"By the way, your hair is amazing."

"Oh, uh, thanks.." Dani felt herself blush slightly at the sudden attention.

With one last grin, Fiona was off, and Dani was left with odd, warring feelings about the woman--she choked it down to the unexpected compliment, not to mention the woman was gorgeous.

That was, until Bright spoke up.

"Huh."

"What?"

"Hm? Nothing...it's probably nothing."

Dani raised her eyebrow questioningly.

"It's just...I thought I had her figured out, she seemed simple enough, but..."

"Bright, spit it out."

"There was a moment, when she first saw you...something shifted completely. But then it was gone, seconds later. Like I said, it was probably nothing." He sounded like he was trying to reassure himself more than her.

"When is it ever nothing?" Dani had learned to trust Malcolm's instincts by now, even if the man in question didn't.

He snorted, inclining his head in concession, but he gave no other response.

Sighing, Dani patted his shoulder.

"We'll have to bring her back in anyway, you can poke at her and do your thing when she arrives at the station for her interview. She gave us her name and address, so we'll run a background check in the meantime."

He looked up at her from his seat on the bench, a small, appreciative smile aimed at her that reassured her more than his words ever could. They left for the station, ready to get to work.

* * *

"We're possibly looking for a religious zealot, judging from the cross, I'm not sure what the sash means yet though...have you got any info on the vics?"

JT stood at Malcolm's question, file in hand. "Oliver MacNeil, 54, divorced. Don't get too excited though, the ex wife died a few years ago. He was in the running for Mayor last year, but dropped out of the race halfway through--no official reason was given, but there were rumors of electoral tampering. Other than that, clean record."

"Hm. What about the other two victims?"

"One was an intern who started at the company three months ago, the other was an independent contractor who was supposed to be refitting the windows."

"Well clearly MacNeil was the target--the other two may have just been collateral, in the wrong place at the wrong time. The sash may be referencing his mayoral run...Does he have any other family members?"

"One, an estranged younger sister, we have her address right here."

"Alright then, let's go-"

"Wait, is the witness here yet? Maybe one of us should wait." Dani spoke up before Bright could run out of the room.

Gil nodded thoughtfully.

"JT, you and Bright check out the sister, Dani and I will interview the witness when she gets here. Call me with any updates at all, got it? And no following dangerous leads without backup." He stared directly at Malcolm during that last part, earning an eye-roll from the younger man.

"I don't follo-"

"Come on, man." JT dragged him out of the room, in no mood for the shorter man's denial. "We'll call as soon as we get anything, promise." He spoke to his lieutenant, and soon they were both gone.

Dani waited for the witness to show up, a nagging feeling that she'd missed something playing at the back of her mind. The longer she waited, the louder the feeling became.

Fiona didn't show up.

* * *

As Malcolm and JT pulled up to the house of Mrs Helen Kline, née MacNeil, it was immediately obvious something was wrong. The front door was ajar, for one thing, and the usually rowdy suburban neighborhood was unsettlingly quiet for 4pm. They exchanged quick glances before exiting the car, JT's hand hovering over his holster, just in case.

Before they got to the door, a young blonde woman exited the house, looking eerily relaxed in juxtaposition to the tense atmosphere. She was familiar, and Malcolm did a double take as their eyes met; it was the witness from the crime scene. Her hair was different, as were her clothes and even her demeanor--no longer was she flustered and nervous, but confident, amused, and vaguely smug. She reminded him a little of his father, if he were being honest, which was possibly the most disturbing thought he had had all day.

"Aw, where is your friend with the nice hair? You are not nearly as pretty." She grinned at them as JT quickly aimed his gun at her, her voice no longer a soft English accent, but an Eastern European one--Russian, perhaps?

A scream was heard from inside the house. 'Fiona' grimaced exaggeratedly.

"You might want to check on that, it sounds painful." She pouted, mocking them.

Before they could even respond, a crash suddenly sounded from inside the house, followed by an even louder scream. Smoke drifted out of the front door, and JT and Malcolm looked at each other in panic.

Clearly this was the opportunity the woman was waiting for. In an effortless gesture, she hit JT's gun out of his hand--and threw it straight into the burning house.

"Oops." She grinned unsettlingly at them, seemingly curious as to what they would do next.

Another scream, this time from a child, tore them out of their indecision, and they both rushed into the house without a second thought, covering their mouths with their sleeves to avoid the thick smoke.

Before they were too far away, Malcolm heard the woman sigh, almost in disappointment.

"So predictable..."

One of them should have stayed with the woman--the suspect. But hearing that child's scream had overridden both of their more pragmatic decision making. The fire had begun to spread throughout the entire house, the origin being the small office space between the front hallway and the kitchen.

The kitchen was where the screams were coming from--a young boy and his mother, who seemed to be bleeding from a head wound but still conscious, though unable to stand. JT headed straight for them, Malcolm trailing behind him, trying to avoid the worst of the fire.

"We're gonna get you out of here kid, I'll help your mom, and you stick with my partner here, okay?" JT spoke fast to the sobbing child who was refusing to loosen his grip on his mother's arm. The boy shook his head, his eyes squeezed shut as if not seeing it would mean it wasn't happening.

Exchanging a glance with JT, Malcolm knelt down to the boy's level.

"Hi. My name's Malcolm, can you tell me your name?"

For a moment it seemed the boy wasn't going to answer, until a barely audible mumble came out.

"...Jamie."

"Okay, Jamie. We're with the police, and we really need to get you both out of here, so you can be safe. But we can't do that without your help. Can you be brave for us Jamie? For your mom?"

Jamie hesitantly peeked up at Bright, searching his face, and thankfully he seemed to find something he trusted there. He nodded, and reluctantly took Malcolm's offered hand, relinquishing his hold on his mother.

JT took this opportunity to lift the woman over his shoulder, draping a coat over them both to stave off the worst of the flames.

"Ready Jamie? Stay close to me."

They retreated back through the house as quickly as they could, with Bright being the last out of the door. When he got outside he quickly took off his jacket, throwing it to the floor and stomping on it to extinguish the flames that had begun to spread over the expensive fabric.

JT was already on his phone, calling for both an ambulance and a fire engine. The woman was placed on the side-walk, still awake and clutching her head in pain. Jamie quickly broke his tight hold on Malcolm's hand to run over to her, throwing his arms around her as she did the same.

Malcolm was disappointed but not surprised to see no trace of the woman from earlier, Fiona. If that even was her name--she had obviously been wearing a wig when they met, had seemed to almost be playing a character--he doubted anything she had told him was the truth, at this point.

"Fire and ambulance are five minutes out." JT broke through Malcolm's contemplative stare, startling him slightly. "Man, Gil's gonna be pissed we didn't call him."

* * *

When Bright and JT returned to the station charred and covered in soot, Gil merely shook his head in exasperation and lead them into his office.

"So you let this woman get away? How? Who the hell is she?"

"Not sure. I think she's Russian, and judging by how efficient her earlier kills were--assuming she's the perp--"

"Which is probably a safe bet." JT chimed in.

"Assuming that, then the purpose of the fire wasn't to kill the Klines. They would be dead if that was the case. I think she was destroying something, evidence of some sort--especially considering the fire was started in the office; a hell of a lot of paperwork was in there. Including some files Oliver MacNeil asked to store there a few years ago, according to his sister. The techs are going over the scene, but pretty much everything was burnt to a crisp."

"So what, was this a professional hit?"

"Maybe. But the theatrics make it confusing--you'd think a professional wouldn't bother with something like that. Unless.."

"Unless..?"

Malcolm shrugged. "She enjoys it. The theatricality of it all...maybe she's found a job where she can indulge her homicidal urges, where it's even encouraged."

Gil ran his hands over his face. "The more I hear about this, the more it's sounding like something the feds will wanna be all over."

Bright and JT groaned almost in unison.

"Really, Gil?"

"I don't make the rules! Professional assassinations fall into their jurisdiction, so you'd better be damn sure of this."

They were interrupted by an officer knocking on the door.

"Sir, there's a call for you from London, says they're with MI6."

There was a beat of silence before Gil responded.

"Wait, really? Uh, patch them through."

"Lieutenant Arroyo?" A woman's voice called through the phone in his office, now on loudspeaker.

"Speaking. Who is this?"

"Eve Polastri, I'm with MI6. I'm calling to confirm the identity of a suspect of yours that I think may be an assassin we've been tracking. I've sent an email to your precinct with a mugshot."

Turning to the computer screen next to him, Gill logged on and opened the email, leaning back to let JT and Malcolm get a look at the woman.

She was just as beautiful in her mugshot, though she looked more like a criminal than she had earlier that day--her bandanna and make-up free face set in a neutral expression.

"That's her--who the hell is this woman? She killed three people and set fire to a house in an hour and a half." JT spoke up.

The woman on the other end let out a long suffering sigh.

"Oksana Astankova. She has other aliases, but she mainly goes by Villanelle when she doesn't care about being subtle. She's a psychopath, a professional assassin, and incredible at what she does...honestly, she's probably already left the country."

"Seriously? We saw her less than thirty minutes ago! "

"Trust me, she's likely on a plane, sipping champagne and laughing her ass off. Goddammit..." The woman on the other end trailed off, mumbling to herself. Malcolm thought he heard the word 'asshole' at some point.

"I have to go, she could be anywhere by now...I'll leave my number just in case but I doubt you'll need it."

"How can you be so sure?"

"She generally prefers to traipse around Europe. London, Italy, France, Amsterdam...she's such a pretentious little shit..." That last part was mumbled under her breath, but it was clearly audible to everyone in the room regardless. Gil's eyebrows rose exponentially as JT snorted at the comment.

Malcolm, however had a contemplative frown on his face. Sensing she was about to hang-up, he cleared his throat. "Ms Polastri? Why exactly did she kill MacNeil? The house seemed to be an attempt to destroy evidence...but without that evidence I'm having a hard time seeing the motivation here."

"She kills whoever she's told, because she likes it. As for why him...a few years ago he became indebted to the organization she works for, but didn't pay up. Something about an election. She probably doesn't even know what he did--she doesn't care. I'm sorry, I've really gotta go."

"Wait! Who-?" The click of the call disconnecting drew a frustrated groan out of Malcolm. "Great. Now I only have more questions..."

"Why? Case is closed. Or at least, not in our hands anymore." JT crossed his arms.

"But there's so much that doesn't make sense! Why the cross? Why go to the trouble of burning evidence? There's something more to this!"

Sighing, Gil led them both out of the room into the main office. "Let it go kid, he's right. It's outta our hands now."

Malcolm ran his hands over his face in frustration, willing himself to just _let it go_ , for once in his life, as he scanned the room for the one person who had an uncanny ability to talk him through his anxious fixations.

"Where's Dani?"

Only when Gil's face fell, eyes widening in dawning realization, did Malcolm's stomach drop in dread.

"Gil?"

"The witness didn't show, so she was gonna check the address she gave if she hadn't turned up in a half hour..." Gil checked his watch, running his hand over his beard nervously "-and that was an hour ago. Dammit!" He approached a uniformed officer at a desk, wasting no time on pleasantries. "Have you seen detective Powell?"

"She left like twenty, maybe thirty minutes ago?" The man glanced up, sparing a respectful glance at the lieutenant before returning his eyes to the computer screen in front of him.

Gil retreated back to Bright, who wasn't even trying to pretend he hadn't been listening to the conversation. Malcolm already had his phone clutched in one hand and was scrolling to Dani's contact, Gill nodding in approval as he waited anxiously.

It rang continuously, each ring bringing a deepening sense of horror to the men as they tried not to think the worst. When Dani's voice-mail message began to play, Malcolm looked up at Gil.

"It's ringing, so it's on. We can trace it."

Gil looked hesitant, not quite sure of the threat level of the situation-- maybe there wasn't even a situation. Maybe Dani had gone to the address, found it empty, and left her phone in her car as she stopped for tea on the way back to the precinct; but if she hadn't, if she had ran into trouble, then there may not be time to search the address first.

Malcolm could see the moment his mentor made the decision--could see the resigned determination in his eyes before he nodded.

"OK. Let's go."

* * *

Dani rarely let herself be taken by surprise: being constantly on guard was both a part of her personality and a part of her police training. Which made it all the more humiliating when someone got the drop on her.

She had approached the address the witness had given them--a small, sparsely populated motel, the only other person she could see was a staff member turning down a bed. Dani was about to approach the woman when something at the corner of her vision caught her attention--nothing particularly suspicious, just a flash of brightly colored fabric turning around the back corner of the hotel, towards the canal. There was no reason for her to follow, no way to even know if it was relevant, but she had a hunch, and Dani trusted her hunches.

After one last glance around the area, Dani hurried after the suspicious figure, breaking into a light jog as she rounded the corner. She stopped in her tracks when she was greeted with the underwhelming sight of nothing; the concrete covered area between the hotel and the canal was completely empty and Dani scrunched her face up in disappointment and confusion as she scanned the area along the canal that she could see--surely whatever she saw couldn't have disappeared that fast?

Her momentary distraction was her downfall, as she heard the click of a gun behind her.

"Don't move." A woman's voice, her accent strong and spoken intimately into Dani's ear, though she stayed still, pointedly not moving to get a better look at the source of the voice. She felt a hand move to her waist, taking her gun from her holster in a confident, practised movement. "Let's go for a walk."

* * *

They walked along the canal in silence, though Dani felt the ever present threat of a gun pressed to her back. Her mind raced through potential outcomes; the canal would be an efficient way to dump her body, especially since the area was devoid of witnesses. It was probably safe to assume this woman didn't have any hang-ups about murder; Dani was fairly certain this was both the 'witness' and the perpetrator--though she still hadn't gotten a good look at her face, steadfastly facing forward as she was.

Only when they approached a lone bench sitting along the canal path was the silence finally broken.

"Sit."

Reluctantly, she did. The woman sat down next to her, gun still trained on her, though her eyes were gazing out at the horizon. Dani thought briefly about going for the gun, but the woman clearly wasn't stupid--despite her casual demeanor and almost relaxed posture, her hand was steady and her finger was resting on the trigger. She wouldn't hesitate to shoot.

As Dani studied her profile, she confirmed that this was, as she suspected, the witness from the crime scene, though she looked like a completely different person; her hair, her clothes, her posture. It would be impressive if it wasn't so disturbing.

"It is a beautiful day, isn't it?" The woman finally turned to look at Dani as she asked the question, her small, easy smile a stark contrast to the deadly weapon in her hand.

Dani didn't have anything to say to that, so she merely stared back at the woman, raising her eyebrow incredulously.

To her surprise, the woman laughed.

"Don't worry, I probably won't kill you."

"…Thanks?" Dani meant it sarcastically, but the woman seemed to brighten.

"You are welcome! It's nice to meet someone with manners. _Some_ people just go straight to the stabbing." Despite her words, the woman spoke as though she were recalling a domestic disagreement, that small smile still on her face.

A buzzing sound from Dani's jacket pocket broke through the strange one sided conversation, and the woman reached for the source of the noise without hesitation, pulling out Dani's phone with her free hand.

"Ooh, _Bright_ " She read the screen as it rang. "He is the small man you work with yes? Your _partner_?" She wagged her eyebrows at the word, and Dani couldn't help but glare at her implication. This only made the woman laugh more.

"You killed those people." Dani decided to change both the subject and her tactics, as her silence wasn't getting her anywhere.

"Yep."

"Why?"

To Dani's exasperation, the woman merely shrugged. "I don't know. Does it matter?"

"...I don't know." Dani rubbed her hands over her eyes, tired already. Talking to this woman was...frustrating. When she looked back, the woman was watching her carefully, and it almost reminded her of what it felt like when Bright tried to profile her--like she was a book being read. She didn't like it one bit.

The woman turned her head away again, admiring the scenery by the canal once more.

"Is that why you were staying here? The view?"

"Ha! No, I would never stay here. I have a five star suit."

"Then why are you here?"

She turned to look at Dani again.

"I wanted to see you, of course."

Dani paused, taken aback. She wanted to feel irritated at this woman's uncanny ability to render her speechless, but more than anything she found herself reluctantly fascinated. Bright would have a field day with this.

"That was risky. How'd you know I wouldn't have backup?"

Again, the woman shrugged. "I am just lucky. I also ran into your co-workers earlier, and was very disappointed to not see you there."

Dani's heartbeat sped up at that, panic setting in as she thought of JT and Malcolm--she didn't know why, but she was sure that this woman's reluctance to kill her wouldn't extend to them. Dani could tell she was highly skilled at what she did, what if she had already hurt them?

Dani relaxed ever so slightly when her phone once again began vibrating in the woman's hand, Bright was calling her, he _had_ to be okay. He had to.

The woman looked at the phone, then at Dani, raising her eyebrows suggestively. " _Someone_ is popular. I think he _likes_ you." With a smile, she suddenly turned and threw the phone into the water. "But it's rude to take phone calls in the middle of a conversation." The woman then had the gall to pretend to look sheepish. "Sorry."

Dani sighed, frustrated with her inability to get control of this bizarre situation. "It's fine, I guess this is what the cloud is for."

"Ha! I like you, detective Powell."

"I can't say the same."

The woman's grin reminded Dani of a wolf stalking its prey, and an involuntary shiver ran through her entire body.

Just as Dani thought this interaction couldn't get any weirder, the woman shrugged off her own jacket immediately, a coy smile playing on her lips the entire time, and held out the ridiculously bright and expensive looking material.

"You look cold. Take this." It wasn't a request, and the otherwise nice gesture felt like a threat coming from the blonde woman. Nevertheless, Dani reluctantly took the garment and shrugged it on. She wasn't cold, but refusing it didn't seem like an option.

The woman's eyes shamelessly roamed up and down her body, eyeing the way her clothes looked on Dani as Dani tried not to show any reaction to the very obvious attention.

"You can call me Villanelle."

"Is that your name?"

The woman, Villanelle, didn't answer. She merely maintained that unnerving grin.

Sighing once again, Dani sent a silent plea to the universe that Bright and Gil and JT were fine and alive and on their way to her location.

"Well I guess you can call me Dani."

"Is that _your_ name?" Villanelle's light, teasing tone made Dani kind of want to punch her in the face.

" _Yes_." She spat, and Villanelle's eyes lit up in excitement at the anger in her tone.

She leant closer to Dani, and Dani felt her heart speed up once more, unsure if the woman was going to kiss her or kill her. Unsure of which one she would rather.

Villanelle lowered her voice, staring intently into Dani's eyes as she spoke. "You know, very little comes close to the feeling of watching somebody's life leave their eyes."

Fearing she would get whiplash from the sudden turns in this conversation, Dani was once again frozen; all she could do was stare right back into the abyss in front of her.

"When she calls, make sure to tell her about this. She gets very jealous."

Before Dani could decode whatever the hell _that_ meant, the other woman's lips were on hers. Dani was still frozen in place, though a hazy part of her mind noted Villanelle's kiss was quick and sensual, yet surprisingly light. She had expected aggressiveness from the woman, but she was quickly realizing it was near impossible to predict anything about her.

She was brought out of her thoughts by a quiet click. Villanelle broke the kiss almost as quickly as she had started it and moved away as Dani looked down in surprise at the handcuffs that had been deftly lifted from her belt and used to cuff her hand to the bench--all in the space of the few seconds she had been distracted.

"They will come for you soon. Goodbye Dani, it was very nice to meet you. You can keep the jacket." Villanelle stood before Dani could form a response, her ever present grin mocking her as she deliberately placed the keys to the cuffs several feet away, but still visible. Dani wanted to be angry, but honestly? It was more considerate than throwing those into the canal along with her phone, so she couldn't find it in herself to do more than roll her eyes at the gesture.

Villanelle laughed almost fondly in response, and with a final grin she turned and walked away, confident and casual as ever.

Dani watched her leave, turning to face ahead when she could no longer see her. In fact, she couldn't see anyone now--the already sparsely populated motel was within walking distance, but definitely not shouting distance. Not like there was anyone around to hear her.

Sighing, she slumped down in her seat, accepting her situation rather quickly. Her team was coming for her, she was sure. All she could do now was wait, and admire the view.

It really was beautiful.

**Author's Note:**

> I swear I wrote this before the last episode of PS aired, so the Russian assassin and the different kind of killing Eve are purely coincidental. Also Villanelle is hard to write for, I hope I did her justice.


End file.
